The braking system effectiveness of a tandem or triplet is very different to that of a single bike. There is less advantage for front braking over rear braking, as the bike is so long that you don't get noticeable weight shift across the wheels, and the rear wheel (when ridden with two) is always well-loaded. You'd be extremely unlikely to skid the rear wheel! The normal additional braking used for tandems is a rear wheel drum (a drum is better than a disc due to lower heat build-up in the larger mass of the drum). A drum brake can be used as a drag-brake on long descents. I operate mine using an old friction gear shift lever.

Dual rim-brakes on the front wheel would concern me. A significant risk for tandems is tyre blowouts, because on any long descent there is a very real risk of rim overheating and tyre failure. Rather my rear tyre to blow than the front.

The pear shaped flanges [of the early Pedersen hub gear] required, it is said, twelve different lengths of spoke and although the company provided spoking charts they were not popular with wheel builders of other firms

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